Office Location:

Undergraduate Education:

Graduate Education:

Postdoctoral Education:

Mount Sinai School of Medicine and The Rockefeller University, New York, NY

Medical Education:

Residency:

Fellowship(s):

Board Certification(s):

Affiliation(s):

Research Interests:

Principal Investigator

Co-regulation and function of Pur-gamma and WRN in the CNS

We are studying the Pur family member, Pur-gamma, in regard to cancer, aging and neurological disorders associated with AIDS. The Pur-gamma gene is located head to head with the WRN gene, and the two proteins share a common promoter region. We are investigating the concurrent regulation of these genes and their functional interaction. Current Funding: NIH

Cellular, molecular and biochemical analysis of MCM8 function

The role of the minichromosome maintenance (MCM) proteins in initiation of DNA replication has been extensively studied, and the MCM2-7 heterohexamer is proposed to be a replicative helicase unwinding DNA ahead of the replication fork during S phase. Additional functions are currently being ascribed to these family members. In 2003, we discovered the gene for MCM8, a new family member that is not found in yeast, but which has seemly evolved to adapt to the more complex nuclear structure of higher eukaryotes. We, and others, have shown the MCM8 gene to be either mutated or variantly spliced in a choriocarcinoma and virally interrupted in a hepatocarcinoma, respectively. The archael MCM proteins, MCM2-7 and MCM8 proteins are AAA+ (ATPases associated with a variety of cellular activities) enzymes. MCM8 is unique among the family members in that it has intrinsic in vitro helicase activity without the presence of family members MCM2-7. MCM8 interacts with proteins involved in DNA replication, including Cdc6, RPA, Cdk2 and other MCM family members. We are studying MCM8 in the context of development and human disease. Funded: CHRB